Jeongeup-si and Forest Cooperative Join Hands for Public-Private Cooperation in Forest Management

Published 10 Apr.2023 13:17(KST)

Jeongeup City in Jeonbuk Province and the Jeongeup Forest Cooperative have joined hands for public-private cooperative forest management focused on forest cultivation.

According to the city on the 10th, the two organizations signed a business agreement on the 7th at the mayor’s office in the city hall to successfully promote the ‘Public-Private Cooperative Forest Management Pilot Project for Forest Cultivation.’

Jeongeup Government Office Exterior [Photo by Jeongeup City]

The signing ceremony was attended by Mayor Lee Hak-su, Forest Cooperative President Choi Bong-gwan, and other officials, who also took time to discuss ways to achieve mutual growth in Jeongeup’s forest projects alongside the agreement.

The ‘Public-Private Cooperative Forest Management Pilot Project,’ promoted by the Korea Forest Service, was established to revitalize private forest management, strengthen the public functions of forest cooperatives, and find ways for mutual growth with forest corporations involved in forest projects.

This year, as a pilot project, the city will invest a total budget of 1.8 billion KRW to entrust the Forest Cooperative with comprehensive implementation of forest projects over 985 hectares, including tending large trees, managing afforestation sites, forest fire prevention cultivation, and public interest forest cultivation.

According to the agreement, the two organizations will mutually cooperate to ensure the successful promotion of the forest cultivation project by securing project sites and obtaining consent from forest owners, as well as conducting on-site inspections to improve project quality.

They will also cooperate to facilitate smooth administrative procedures such as budget procurement and approvals/permits, and establish a cooperative system for handling complaints arising from project implementation.

Mayor Lee Hak-su stated, “Through this agreement, Jeongeup City and the Forest Cooperative will work together to revitalize small-scale private forest management, share roles between the cooperative and corporations to ease competition in forest projects, and strive to improve the quality of forest projects.”